Arthritis pain: considerations
Arthritis is a leading cause of pain and disability worldwide. There are many recommendations for relieving pain from arthritis and other conditions through exercise, medication, and stress reduction. How do you know which approach is right for you? Here are some considerations to help you know which approach is right for you.
Daily activities
Pay attention to your joints, whether you are sitting, standing, or moving.
▸Keep your joints mobile. Do gentle stretches every day to keep your joints moving.
▸Maintain proper posture. A physical therapist can teach you how to sit, stand, and move in the right posture.
▸Know your limitations. Balance activity with rest, and don't overdo it.
Lifestyle changes are also important to relieve pain.
▸Manage your weight. Being overweight can increase complications from arthritis and contribute to arthritis pain. Weight management is often most effective when weight is lost gradually, with permanent lifestyle changes.
▸Quit smoking. Smoking puts stress on connective tissue, which can worsen arthritis pain.
Exercise
If you have arthritis, exercise can relieve pain and stiffness, increase your range of motion, strengthen your muscles, and increase your endurance.
What to do
Choose the right types of activities that strengthen the muscles around your joints without damaging them. A physical or occupational therapist can help you develop an exercise program that's right for you.
Focus on stretching, full-joint range of motion, and progressive strength training. Include low-impact aerobic exercise, such as walking, biking, or water sports, which can improve your mood and help control your weight.
What to avoid
Avoid activities that involve high impact and repetitive motion, such as:
▸ Running
▸ Jumping
▸ Tennis
▸ High-impact aerobic exercise
▸ Repeating the same motion over and over, such as a tennis serve
Medications
There are many types of medications available to help relieve arthritis pain. Most are relatively safe, but none completely eliminate side effects. Talk to your doctor about developing a medication plan for your specific pain symptoms.
What to do
Over-the-counter pain relievers, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol, others), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others), or naproxen sodium (Aleve), can help relieve occasional pain caused by activities that muscles and joints have difficulty adjusting to, such as going out to garden after spending the winter indoors.
Creams containing capsaicin can be applied to the skin over painful joints to relieve pain. Use alone or with oral medications.
Talk to your doctor if over-the-counter medications don't relieve your pain.
What to avoid
▸ Overtreatment. Talk to your doctor if you find yourself frequently using over-the-counter pain relievers.
▸ Undertreatment. Don't ignore severe and prolonged arthritis pain. This is a sign that you may have joint inflammation or joint damage that requires daily medication.
▸ Focusing only on the pain. Depression is more common in people with arthritis. Doctors have found that treating depression with antidepressants and other therapies can not only reduce symptoms of depression, but also reduce arthritis pain.
Mind-body integration
It's not surprising that arthritis pain can have a negative impact on mood. If everyday activities hurt you, you're bound to feel frustrated. But when these normal feelings escalate into fearful, hopeless thoughts, your pain can actually get worse and harder to control.
What to do
Therapies to break the destructive mind-body dynamic include:
▸ Cognitive behavioral therapy. This well-researched combination of talk therapy and behavior modification can help you identify (and break) self-defeating cycles of thought and action.
▸ Relaxation therapy. Meditate, do yoga, breathe deeply, listen to music, spend time in nature, write in a journal—anything that helps you relax. There's nothing wrong with relaxing, and it can help relieve pain.
▸ Acupuncture. Some people find pain relief through acupuncture, where a trained acupuncturist inserts tiny needles into specific points on your body. It may take several weeks before you notice an improvement.
▸ Heat and cold. Using heat, such as a heating pad on a painful joint, a hot bath or shower, or soaking a painful joint in warm paraffin wax, can temporarily relieve pain. Be careful not to burn yourself. Don’t use a heating pad for more than 20 minutes at a time.
After intense exercise, using a cool compress, such as an ice pack on sore muscles, can relieve pain and inflammation.
▸ Massage. Massage may temporarily improve pain and stiffness. Make sure your massage therapist knows where your arthritis is.
What to avoid
▸ Smoking. If you’re addicted to smoking, you may be using it as an emotional coping tool. But it’s counterproductive: Toxins in the smoke can put stress on connective tissue, leading to more joint problems.
▸ Negative attitude. Negative thoughts perpetuate. As long as you dwell on negative thoughts, they escalate, increasing pain and risk of disability. Instead, distract yourself with activities you enjoy, spend time with supportive people, and consider talking to a therapist.
